Category: General Knowledge

Even in the age of Google, General Knowledge still matters! Improving your general knowledge is important as it keeps you updated on the various happenings at national and international levels. Apart from the fact that a number of various entrance tests are designed to assess your awareness of Current Affairs and General Knowledge, people still tend to associate General Knowledge with intelligence and awareness. As an added advantage, it makes you a great and interesting conversationalist.

As your command over General Knowledge and Current Affairs puts you in a wise light, the need to acquire general knowledge right from an early age is greatly emphasized upon. You can improve your General Knowledge in a number of ways and few of them are listed below.

1. Reading: the tried and tested formula to improve your General Knowledge is to read. Read anything that you can lay your hands upon – books, magazines, newspapers, journals; just about anything in black and white. Inculcate the habit of reading to expand the circumference of your knowledge.
2. Writing: you easily tend to forget what you have read. Writing helps you retain that knowledge and reinforces information in your brain. So write, make short notes that you can retrieve whenever the need arises.
3. Viewing TV: the so called ‘Idiot Box’ is not as idiot as you think. It also offers you knowledge in just about every field and that too in a very interesting way. Channels like Discovery, National Geographic, History, Animal Planet, make you aware of facts you never thought existed. The 24×7 News channels keep you updated with the latest happenings around the Globe.
4. Smart use of the Internet: Save some time from Facebook, Twitter, and other such time-killers and indulge in the more knowledgeable sources on the Internet. The World is on the Internet in every sense of the word and so that is where you will find lots of information on just about everything.
5. Socialize: Confinement narrows your outlook and sets a limit to your knowledge. The company of like-minded, experienced individuals can do wonders for your general awareness. The bigger your network of friends, colleagues, and other acquaintances, the better informed you are.
6. Solve puzzles and quizzes: Play games and attempt quizzes that challenge your brain. The more you will challenge your brain, the stronger it becomes. Just try to do some mental mathematics, solve crosswords, draw a map from memory, make word pictures; there are many ways to exercise your mind and sharpen your memory.
7. Keep your curiosity alive: Most important! Remain curious and never stop questioning. Be a child, question everything and find answers. Whenever faced with a challenge, try to find the answer from every available source.

These are just a few tips that you can use to improve your General Knowledge skills. Remember, better awareness not only helps you in academics or career but it makes life better.

International Conference of Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) Parliamentarians, a milestone event, organised by Antar Rashtriya Sahayog Parishad, Bharat in association with the PIO Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, was held in New Delhi on January 9, 2018, in which 140 elected public representatives, from MPs to Mayors from 23 countries are participated. The day itself marks the return of Mahatma Gandhi, a Pravasi Bharatiya, to India from South Africa on January 9, 1915. Antar Rashtriya Sahayog Parishad had hosted the first such get-together of PIO parliamentarians with participation of 34 PIO parliamentarians from eight countries in November 1998, which was inaugurated by India’s then Prime Minister, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi addressing inaugural session of the PIO-Parliamentarian Conference termed it as a Mini World Parliament of Indian origin and stated that:

• PIOs are today Prime Ministers of Mauritius, Portugal and Ireland.
• PIOs have also been Heads of State, and of Government in many other countries
• PIOs are like permanent ambassadors of India, wherever they reside, and he always attempts to meet them when he is travelling abroad
• Global impression about India has changed over the last three to four years and the reason for this is that India is transforming itself.
• The hopes and aspirations of India are at an all-time high and signs of irreversible change are visible in every sector.
• The values of Indian civilization and culture can provide guidance to the entire world, in an era of instability.
• Praised External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj for continuously keeping an eye on issues being faced by Indian citizens abroad, and mentioned the “MADAD” portal for real time monitoring and response of consular grievances.

President Shri Ram Nath Kovind addressing the conference said, it is a tribute and celebration of a very contemporary, very accomplished and very high-achieving community – estimated 30 million strong Pravasi Bharatiyas in over 100 countries of which about 13 million are PIOs and some 17 million are Non-Resident Indians or NRIs. We look upon the community and look upon you, the PIO parliamentarians and elected and public representatives as a living bridge. You have a role in enhancing understanding between your countries and the country of your parents and ancestors. And in helping build economic, people-to-people and strategic connections that will be of benefit to both countries and to all of us. Today, India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world. The next few decades are likely to see our economy gallop ahead. We are also at the cusp of New India, an India that will achieve certain milestones for our people by 2022, when we celebrate the 75^th year of our Independence. At such a juncture, India offers huge investment, trade and developmental opportunities. And the development of India will be of benefit to not just the 1.3 billion people of India – but will be a voice of hope and prosperity and of peace and stability for our shared world. And for all the countries you represent.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj urged the legislators and political figures to consider what kind of contribution they could make for India’s global ambition.

Minister for Chemicals & Fertilizers and Parliamentary Affairs, Shri Ananth Kumar, addressing the 2^nd Plenary Session on ‘Resurgent India–Role of PIO Parliamentarians’; invited the august gathering of PIOs to partner in the development of their Motherland India. Flagship schemes of Government of India such as Skill India, Start-up India, Stand up India, Make in India etc. provide a great opportunity for PIOs to partner in India’s resurgence as a global power.

Vice President Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu in his key note address at the Valedictory Session mentioned that Indian diaspora has contributed enormously to strengthening India’s cultural, literary, political and economic bonds across the world. He urged each country and the United Nations to build a global consensus against terror in all its forms so that we can focus our energies and resources on the welfare of our peoples.

“Managing Disruptive Transitions: Ideas, Institutions and Idioms” was the theme of this year’s iteration of Raisina Dialogue – 3^rd Edition, on 16, 17 & 18 January 2018 that featured Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj. As Swaraj later pointed out, this was a ‘rare’ occasion that Netanyahu was on the stage and “Modi was in the crowd”. And on the other, perhaps more pertinently, it was the content of Netanyahu’s speech that acted as the true disruptive element.

• Netanyahu went turbo-realist in his opening statements stating, “The weak don’t survive. The strong survive. You make peace with the strong. You ally with the strong.”
• Netanyahu spoke of the four types of power a country must possess in order to be strong:
  • Military power,
  • Economic power,
  • Political power and
  • Power of values.

The most striking part of his entire little sub-section on power was the line: “I like soft power. Hard power is often better.” No other line could sum up the tone of his speech as succinctly.

• Netanyahu noted that he was ‘astounded to know’ that Modi had brought India’s Ease of Doing Business ranking up 42 places in the past three years.
• He added, “If you want to have economic power, you must reduce and simplify taxes”, in acknowledgment of the Modi government’s Goods and Services Tax (GST) rollout.

Raisina Dialogue, a multilateral conference held annually in New Delhi, is committed to addressing the most challenging issues facing the global community. Every year, global leaders in policy, business, media and civil society are hosted in New Delhi to discuss cooperation on a wide range of pertinent international policy matters. The Dialogue is structured as a multi-stakeholder, cross-sectoral discussion, involving heads of state, cabinet ministers and local government officials, as well as major private sector executives, members of the media and academics. The conference is hosted by the Observer Research Foundation in collaboration with the Government of India, Ministry of External Affairs. Designed on the lines of Singapore’s Shangri-La Dialogue, the conference has since its inception in 2016, emerged as India’s flagship conference on geopolitics and geo-economics. The name “Raisina Dialogue” comes from Raisina Hill, an elevation in New Delhi that is home to the Government of India, as well as the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

1^st Raisina Dialogue was held from March 1 to 3, 2016. Over 100 speakers from over 35 countries attended to speak on the theme, “Asia: Regional and Global Connectivity”. The focus of the 2016 conference was on Asia’s physical, economic, human and digital connectivity. Panels and discussions explored opportunities and challenges for the region to manage its common spaces, as well as the global partnerships needed to develop common pathways in this century.

2^nd Edition of Raisina Dialogue was held from January 17 to19, 2017 on a larger scale, with over 120 speakers from 65 countries. The Theme of the Dialogue was, “The New Normal: Multilateralism with Multi-Polarity” where Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi in his inaugural address  spoke of vasudev kutumbakam: countries can only progress if they do so together.

Nayachar, an island in the in the Hooghly River, off Haldia in Purba Midinipur District of West Bengal, derives its name from the Bengali words Naya meaning New and Char meaning  a strip of sandy land rising out of the bed of a river or the sea above water-level. It was created in the Indian Sunderbans by river silt deposits, and remained largely submerged, rising occasionally above the water level.  Island was renamed Meendwip, meaning fish island by Benfish the official agency of the fisheries department that undertook its development in December 1987, but nothing much seems to have happened.

Nayachar was completely barren with hardly any plant or animal species till 1990 and a recent study aimed at understanding soil stabilisation in an emerging island and succession of living organisms in a new habitat titled ‘Studies on the Succession and Faunal Diversity and Ecosystem Dynamics in Nayachar Island Indian Sundarban Delta’ published in October 2017 by the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), has listed 151 animal species on the island, making it a rare case in ecology, as it reveals how an emerging landmass can gradually provide habitats for diverse groups of organisms. According to Dr. A. K. Hazra-former Additional Director ZSI, working on the project since 1989, and Dr. Gurupada Mandal-an expert on subsoil invertebrates, study spanning nearly three decades from 1990 to 2017, the first of its kind in India, documents the rare development of an ecosystem undisturbed by human intervention. Nayachar has provided that rare opportunity for researchers to study species succession from a very nascent stage:

• Nayachar is a mangrove ecosystem where a unique species succession has been observed.
• Scientist had found only three invertebrate soil fauna (organisms living under the soil) in 1989.
• After a couple of years, the number doubled and, by the late Nineties, 76 invertebrate fauna, both underground and terrestrial were recorded.
• The data so far places the number of animal species at 151.
• Soon after the emergence of Protista, the single-celled organisms, on the island, scientists could record salt-tolerant micro fauna from the Acarina and Collembola groups living under the soil.
• So far about 20 species of microfauna, which represent eight species of Acarina and six species of Collembola have been recorded.
• Increase in faunal species is seen in every group.
• A total of 27 species of fish have been recorded in the publication.
• The island has recorded 37 species of birds thus far.
• Mammals, mostly rats, mice, bats and squirrels, have increased in number from three in 1992 to 11 at present.
• The island is also home to 33 species of butterflies and moths, up from only 7 in 1992.
• Island has recorded a growth in species of fauna and as well as increase in size over the past five decades from 17.99 sq. km. to 46.29 sq. km.
• What’s interesting is that Nayachar is surrounded by water on all sides and the nearest landmass, the sinking island of Ghoramara is about 30 km away.
• The natural succession of species on the island has been aided by the inundation of water during tides, and the soil brought from other places by fishermen.